I'm passionate about nature and the outdoors and try to get outside as much as I possibly can. We all have a natural connection with living things and sometimes in our busy lives we lose the ability to adopt the pace of nature.

Nature is something within us which helps us flourish, so making it more a part of our lives is critical, especially when we live and work in built environments. I love to walk and try to encourage people to get outdoors by sharing my photographs and experiences on social media, and, on a deeper and more personal level, to engage with the natural world through wild art therapy.

Because of the gentle, more relaxing stimuli in nature, people’s attentional systems become rejuvenated and able to function correctly. Immersion in nature has been proven to boost creativity by as much as 50%. I believe that therapy such as wild art therapy is far better than conventional treatments for depression, self-esteem and many other mental health problems.

Bio

A little bit about me: I originally trained as a counsellor way back in the 1990s. At the time I had a horticultural business and I experimented with horticultural therapy and found it to be very effective. In 1997 I started nurse training and obtained my Bachelor of Nursing degree in the year 2000. I then worked for several years in the NHS and in private practice. I was also a columnist on the Nursing Standard journal for 17 years and regularly travelled around the country doing seminars at Royal College of Nursing (RCN) events. I'm currently completing training as a clinical hypnotherapist and I'm also studying the work of Carl Jung online through the Conscious Living Programme with the Applied Jung Centre in South Africa.

Now as an ecotherapist I prefer a more holistic and natural approach to life and health and I specialise in offering talks and workshops based on wild art therapy focusing on improving energy and self-esteem. I believe that low self-esteem and low-energy underlie many mental health problems.